Roll it away: Rock Hill residents fight to save historic church

Some residents in the St. Louis suburb of Rock Hill are fighting to save the historic church their town is named after. The Rock Hill Presbyterian Church on the corner of McKnight and Manchester Roads is slated for demolition to make way for a gas station this spring.

Linda Lemen is among a group of citizens seeking to relocate the limestone structure.

“It may be radical," she said, "but you have to choose your battles in life and you have to choose what is important.”

Rock Hill was mostly farmland when the humble church was built in 1845. The citizen group's plan calls for raising nearly $1 million to relocate church and the historic Fairfax house -- which shares the site -- to Rock Hill Park.

A spokesperson for the group says it would be cheaper to move both structures than to buy the property from the company planning to develop it.